Pairings have become a big thing in food-land: A nice merlot with your cannelloni; a Chablis with your halibut.
A food blogger puts Nelson Brewing Company’s Oatmeal Stout with Cambozola cheese. My first novel, Treading Water, was once paired with a Baillie-Grohman Chardonnay, thanks to Jon Langille at Wine Guys.
The Civic Theatre is getting into the pairing thing with a new dinner-and-a-movie initiative, and it’s all about enhancing the flavour of Nelson’s downtown energy.
Starting mid-October, eight participating restaurants (with more coming on board) will include a special meal-and-a-movie offer on their menus — a sweet deal for the wallet, too.
Confirmed so far are Itza Ristorante & Pizzeria, Max & Irma’s, Main Street Diner, the Hume Hotel, Finley’s Irish Bar & Grill, the Outer Clove, Rel-ish Bistro, and Jackson’s Hole, all of them with fabulous menus and tasty dishes worthy of an Oscar.
True, the perfect pairing may simply be the marriage of two great entertainments: food and film (plus friends).
Our culinary partners might also seize the opportunity to offer a special meal they’ll know you’ll like, while others will simply go a la carte.
But what if your favourite eatery were to match the meal to the movie?
Time will tell, but I love the idea of, say, an escargot appie followed by a nice tandoori chicken entrée to go with the recently screened film The Hundred Foot Journey — a delightful clash of culinary sensibilities spiced with romance.
Imagine the possibilities!
The Civic is showing the next installment of the Hunger Games series. Your meal arrives at a distant table pinioned to the plate by a flaming arrow, and you have to run the gauntlet of bloodthirsty desperados to eat it.
Don’t worry, more likely your meal will arrive smelling like heaven, served by a friendly waitperson. You’ll arrive at the film relaxed as you should be, all the action on the screen where it belongs.
Watch the website at civictheatre.ca for the dinner-and-a-movie menu, or subscribe to our newsletter to always be ready for the next tasty offering, whatever it may be.
Also coming up soon on the Civic Theatre’s menu is the Deconstructing Dinner Festival October 1 to 8, at various venues with the Civic as a major player.
Deconstructing Dinner is the brainchild of Jon Steinman, a food journalist who set out to investigate the food we eat and became an internationally syndicated radio show host and producer of this food-for-thought film festival.
Deconstructing Dinner has two Italian films on the menu October 2 at the Civic: Just Eat It follows two food-lovers as they investigate wastefulness by applying their own test: can they live for a year on nothing but discarded food?
The Last Shepherd is the charming tale of the last shepherd of Lombardi, Italy and his quest to introduce his flock to the children of Milan.
Films run all day at the Civic on Saturday, October 4, including The Last Ocean, No Land No Food No Life, Bean to Bar, and Quebec on Film with The Sugar Shack and The Sower.
In between, sample the Poutine Bar at the Bite truck — a great example of food and film finding common ground. Bean to Bar, incidentally, also includes a chocolate-maker’s showcase.
Mmmmmm.
The Civic Theatre has been about pairings from the get-go, really: we pair with local businesses and community groups for collaborations that benefit everyone, and we pair a great community initiative with opportunities to donate or volunteer and be a part of something great.
And popcorn, which goes great with our own Civic Theatre spice, a drink that pairs beautifully with the cup holder on your seat, and your own pair of eyes and ears that are a perfect match for our crystal clear screen and awesome Surround Sound.
Anyone for seconds?
—Anne DeGrace is the past president of the Nelson Civic Theatre Society. To find out about the Dinner-and-a-movie and all things Civic go to civictheatre.ca.